Six Republican Senators have asked Harry Reid to postpone consideration of the …

The public outcry over the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act seems to have gotten so loud that even members of Congress can hear it. On Thursday we covered the news that Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) was expressing second thoughts about SOPA's DNS provisions. He said he changed his mind after he "heard from a number of Vermonters" on the issue.

On Friday, several Republicans started backpedaling as well.

SOPA sponsor Lamar Smith (R-TX) announced that he would be pulling the DNS-blocking provisions from his own bill. “After consultation with industry groups across the country, I feel we should remove Domain Name System blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that the Committee can further examine the issues surrounding this provision," Smith said in a Friday statement.

Meanwhile, six GOP senators who served on the Senate Judiciary Committee (which unanimously approved the legislation last year) wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asking him to postpone a vote on PIPA to give them more time to study the legislation.

"We strongly believe that the theft of American intellectual property is a significant problem that must be addressed," they wrote. But since the Judiciary Committee last considered the legislation, "we have increasingly heard from a large number of constituents and other stakeholders with vocal concerns about possible unintended consequences of the proposed legislation, including breaches in cybersecurity, damaging the integrity of the Internet, costly and burdensome litigation, and dilution of First Amendment rights."

The current plan for the full Senate to consider the bill on January 24 "may not permit us to work through many of the concerns that have been raised," they warned.

Lest anyone doubt the signers' tough-on-piracy bona fides, they include Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who once proposed that Congress give copyright holders a special exemption allowing them to hack into the computers of those suspected of piracy. In a 2003 hearing, he suggested that damaging someone's computer "may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights."

"It appears that lawmakers are beginning to realize how much damage their anti-'piracy' bills could cause to the Internet and to Internet-related businesses," said Public Knowledge's Sherwin Siy in a statement. "While we are pleased that some progress is being made, we are also firm in our opposition to both bills because some very bad provisions remain."

Washington insiders hold disproportionate sway on Capitol Hill. But members of Congress are ultimately chosen by American voters. When enough of them express a strong view on an issue, members of Congress do pay attention.

Update: The Obama administration has come out in opposition to SOPA in its current form. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has also promised that SOPA will not proceed to a vote until "consensus" has developed.

76 Reader Comments

Score one for the good guys! Everybody keep up the pressure - DNS restrictions or not, this legislation is completely toxic. It's like a cancer; cutting out a single tumor won't make the body any less diseased.

Keep contacting your representatives. Keep petitioning supporters and urging them to change their stance. Urge big sites like Google and Wikipedia to join the Jan. 18 blackout. If we all join forces, we can kill this thing!

Maybe you should have consulted with industry groups across the country before trying to ram this piece of shit through the senate and the house via secret closed-door meetings? Oh wait. You did consult with industry groups...the ENTERTAINMENT industry...about how much money they should contribute to your election fund. Corrupt politician scum.

"It appears that lawmakers are beginning to realize how much damage their anti-'piracy' bills could cause to the Internet and to Internet-related businesses," said Public Knowledge's Sherwin Siy in a statement. *snip*

These fucking assholes aren't realizing how much damage it could cost ANYTHING; they're only realizing that they might get voted out if they pass it. Selfishness strikes again and power corrupts absolutely.

"It appears that lawmakers are beginning to realize how much damage their anti-'piracy' bills could cause to the Internet and to Internet-related businesses," said Public Knowledge's Sherwin Siy in a statement. *snip*

These fucking assholes aren't realizing how much damage it could cost ANYTHING; they're only realizing that they might get voted out if they pass it. Selfishness strikes again and power corrupts absolutely.

This is exactly what I was going to say. This isn't a change of heart, it's a change of face.

These fucking assholes aren't realizing how much damage it could cost ANYTHING; they're only realizing that they might get voted out if they pass it.

.

But, isn't that how representative politics is supposed to work?

I doubt very much that representative politics is supposed to work like this:

Quote:

Representative: "I'm going to sponsor this bill because lobbyists are bribing me to do so." People: "Whoa, did you even read it? It's horrible! We oppose this!" Representative: "Support for my bill is strong and will be passed soon!" People: "Hey, did you even listen to us? Now we're really angry and writing you letters." Representative: "Support for my bill is now even stronger and we're going to pass it in the dead of night to avoid red tape." People: "Hey you fucking asshole, we're going to vote you out of office AND fund your replacement's campaign if you don't cut this shit out." Representative: "After having listened to voters and industry professionals, I'm reconsidering my position to support this bill. Look at how much I listen to my voters!"

This shows that people really need to communicate with their government. Calling your congressman and voicing your opinion works on issues like this, but the raising money for a challengers is even better

This shows that people really need to communicate with their government. Calling your congressman and voicing your opinion works on issues like this, but the raising money for a challengers is even better

"It appears that lawmakers are beginning to realize how much damage their anti-'piracy' bills could cause to the Internet and to Internet-related businesses," said Public Knowledge's Sherwin Siy in a statement. *snip*

These fucking assholes aren't realizing how much damage it could cost ANYTHING; they're only realizing that they might get voted out if they pass it. Selfishness strikes again and power corrupts absolutely.

As you know MAFIAAFire are not shy to throw our hat into a nice boiling pot of shouting voices, since we are not US citizens can you kindly tell us when these people come up for re-election? We know it's in 2012 but not sure about dates and we have... umm, something nice planned to help the American people

Quote:

After reddit members raised $15,000 in 48 hours for his anti-SOPA challenger

well, well, well... it seems that congress has realized who butters their bread... now all we need to do is repeal some of the more onerous sections of the patriot act. legislation by fear is never a good idea and can have unintended consequences.

well, well, well... it seems that congress has realized who butters their bread... now all we need to do is repeal some of the more onerous sections of the patriot act. legislation by fear is never a good idea and can have unintended consequences.

Yes, but if you are against the Patriot Act, then you MUST be unpatriotic! Funny how that works...I say we should rename the DHS as the Ministry of Peace and abandon any pretense that the United States of America is still a free country!

May sopa, PIPA, OPEN, and all of its supporters burn in the fires of Hades forever. There is no logical reason to give Big Content anymore power because they will just abuse it like they did with Copyright terms (120 years is ridiculous!) and the DMCA.

Score one for the good guys! Everybody keep up the pressure - DNS restrictions or not, this legislation is completely toxic. It's like a cancer; cutting out a single tumor won't make the body any less diseased.

Keep contacting your representatives. Keep petitioning supporters and urging them to change their stance. Urge big sites like Google and Wikipedia to join the Jan. 18 blackout. If we all join forces, we can kill this thing!

I am also trying to get a bunch of my friends to join me in "Burn Big Content Day" Event in Portland, Maine.Trying right now to get enough to do the following:1.getting each person to bring either one copy of a RIAA CD,MPAA DVD/Bluray, or a book from one of the Big Content Publishers2.Everyone throws their one thing into a pile.3.Then we either take an AXE to the content or we burn it4.People will also hold their protest signs5.I will film the whole thing and post it on the NETSome of you will think this is a pretty cool idea.Want to know more then find me thru big meat hammer in maine.

well, well, well... it seems that congress has realized who butters their bread... now all we need to do is repeal some of the more onerous sections of the patriot act. legislation by fear is never a good idea and can have unintended consequences.

Yes, but if you are against the Patriot Act, then you MUST be unpatriotic! Funny how that works...I say we should rename the DHS as the Ministry of Peace and abandon any pretense that the United States of America is still a free country!

May sopa, PIPA, OPEN, and all of its supporters burn in the fires of Hades forever. There is no logical reason to give Big Content anymore power because they will just abuse it like they did with Copyright terms (120 years is ridiculous!) and the DMCA.

I'm not sure what you're on about; no one has 120 years of copyright protection. Effectively, maybe, but not technically. The longest is Mexico's of life + 100 years; the US has copyright protection of life + 70 years (95 in certain instances, like Mickey).

Score one for the good guys! Everybody keep up the pressure - DNS restrictions or not, this legislation is completely toxic. It's like a cancer; cutting out a single tumor won't make the body any less diseased.

Keep contacting your representatives. Keep petitioning supporters and urging them to change their stance. Urge big sites like Google and Wikipedia to join the Jan. 18 blackout. If we all join forces, we can kill this thing!

I am also trying to get a bunch of my friends to join me in "Burn Big Content Day" Event in Portland, Maine.Trying right now to get enough to do the following:1.getting each person to bring either one copy of a RIAA CD,MPAA DVD/Bluray, or a book from one of the Big Content Publishers2.Everyone throws their one thing into a pile.3.Then we either take an AXE to the content or we burn it4.People will also hold their protest signs5.I will film the whole thing and post it on the NETSome of you will think this is a pretty cool idea.Want to know more then find me thru big meat hammer in maine.

I'm not sure what you're on about; no one has 120 years of copyright protection. Effectively, maybe, but not technically. The longest is Mexico's of life + 100 years; the US has copyright protection of life + 70 years (95 in certain instances, like Mickey). I was including the for life into the equasion

May sopa, PIPA, OPEN, and all of its supporters burn in the fires of Hades forever. There is no logical reason to give Big Content anymore power because they will just abuse it like they did with Copyright terms (120 years is ridiculous!) and the DMCA.

I'm not sure what you're on about; no one has 120 years of copyright protection. Effectively, maybe, but not technically. The longest is Mexico's of life + 100 years; the US has copyright protection of life + 70 years (95 in certain instances, like Mickey).

The US offers 120 years of copyright protection (for a work by a corporation) from the date of creation, or 95 years from the date of publication, which ever is shorter. So if someone creates a work and does not publish it for 25 years, it will enjoy a full 120 years of copyright protection.

I worked as a staffer in a member of Congress's office quite a few years ago. And yes, phone calls and letters do matter. A lot. We had to track them all. And the volume on an issue, and the ratio of pros vs cons on the issue really did matter. Further, the more articulate letters and emails were read in depth and used in office discussions.

It's easy to be cynical about politicians. I find myself that way more often than I'd like to be. But there are a lot of good and decent men and women in public office. On both sides of the aisle. But they rarely make the news, since just doing your job as best you can is a really crappy news story.

Given that sopa is a dead duck is it even needed? I watched on tv today that some poor british bloke is in the process of being extradited from the uk to the usa to face charges of copywrite infringement his only crime creating a website that links to copywrited content(google anyone). Given that you tube takes this 1 stage further and actually uploads counterfeit material onto its servers it seems remarkable to me that this law is even needed.

May sopa, PIPA, OPEN, and all of its supporters burn in the fires of Hades forever. There is no logical reason to give Big Content anymore power because they will just abuse it like they did with Copyright terms (120 years is ridiculous!) and the DMCA.

I'm not sure what you're on about; no one has 120 years of copyright protection. Effectively, maybe, but not technically. The longest is Mexico's of life + 100 years; the US has copyright protection of life + 70 years (95 in certain instances, like Mickey).

The US offers 120 years of copyright protection (for a work by a corporation) from the date of creation, or 95 years from the date of publication, which ever is shorter. So if someone creates a work and does not publish it for 25 years, it will enjoy a full 120 years of copyright protection.

What needs to happen is one of these big content lapdog needs to be electorally obliterate in November. Set up a PAC and go after one of them. (I personally would pick Orrin Hatch, but his position this year is rather strong. With Romney looking to be the GOP Presidential nominee, Utah republican turn out is going to be off the chart. Paul Ryan maybe a good choice, with a few torpedo hits on him already.) When the MPAA come knocking again, these Washington politicos will hesitate and think 'do I want to be the one whose campaign got blown to pieces in the next election?' Of course, it is not supposed to work this way, but sadky it is the way it works nowadays.

This shows that people really need to communicate with their government. Calling your congressman and voicing your opinion works on issues like this, but the raising money for a challengers is even better

This shows an ignorance of politics that is almost as appalling as the ignorance of a lot of politicians have.

*Nothing* is more effective than a lot of people calling their legislators. If a representative's office gets 50 or so independent calls from people in their district on a particular matter, it's an emergency that they will take very seriously. (By independent calls, I mean calls from people who are concerned enough about a particular matter to pick up the phone and call to talk about the issue - phone banks or callers reading off of scripts don't count).

People who take the time to call are people who take the time to vote. And it suggests that there is a much larger group of voters in the district who might also care about this issue, and who will still vote, but who won't take the time to call.

But legislators are hypersensitive to this kind of pressure, at least on non-partisan issues.

Most congressmen will take notice if letters (not mass emails) and phone calla are made. They know for everyone that does take the time to write many more didn't but still really care about the issue. They will take notice. So everyone here needs to be honest with themselves, did you actually take the time to call or write? If you haven't please do so it takes 10 minutes and you are wrong in thinking that no one will read it.

I emailed the three immediately relevant people to my area asking their opinion and reasoning.

Two never gave a satisfactory (e.g. non-madlib) response. The third actually admitted he didn't understand the technicalities, and said the problems were "unclear". I actually read that as politicalese for "I didn't get spoonfed this information", which tbh is fair; the wrong phrasing could be quoted out of context, etc etc.

I'd vote for the third guy again, he strikes me as less dumb and more ignorant (which is a fair problem to have, as not everyone can be expected to understand the total ramifications of what is, to most people, magic); I seriously doubt I'll vote for the first two. (I didn't vote for one of 'em anyway, so I guess no real loss there).

One thing to bear in mind is that a lot of people probably really don't understand the ramifactions of SOPA. To someone who doesn't understand DNS, which is probably more than 90% of the internet-supplied world, the closest analogy would be stepping in and closing down a store in the mall. They don't know that closing that metaphoric store can cause the incidental closure of 3 other stores, two newspapers, a school, and a pizzeria.